


Freaks Come Out

by Coffin Liqueur (HP_Lovecats)



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Bittersweet, Gen, Halloween, Lighthearted, Platonic Female/Male Relationships, Trick or Treat: Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2020-10-31
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27260815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HP_Lovecats/pseuds/Coffin%20Liqueur
Summary: Ibuki hasfeelingsabout her and her class getting to attend a Halloween festival!
Relationships: Mioda Ibuki & Soda Kazuichi
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4
Collections: Trick or Treat Exchange 2020





	Freaks Come Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TereziMakara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TereziMakara/gifts).



_"Ibuki! S-s-s-slow_ **_down…!_** ”

At Kazuichi’s good ol’ silly _shriiiiieeeeek_ behind her - _ha ha…! Poor, poor tight-wound Kazuichi…!_ \- Ibuki’s nose scrunched and she bared her teeth ear to ear and she _sprinted_ onto the street ahead of them both, the bells tied to her neck and her wire-tail _jingle-jangle-jingling_ around her...!

She was _absolutely_ daring him to catch her, and, for what it was worth, she had some pretty high hopes that he’d be able to do this just fine. All things considered, anyhoo.

After all, he’d been the only one to spot her and give chase once she’d broken away from the rest of the group! All of them playing it _so safe_ , the more serious among them collabing with the folks from the Future Foundation to schedule and pin down _who_ planned on going _where_ and _when…_

...Tshh… as if _that_ was the way any festival was meant to be enjoyed!

She narrowed her eyes at a spot where the crowd thinned. Balling her hands into fists akimbo tight-and-close to her sides, she hopped and wove into it - one-two hops off the soles of her costume’s shoes, imagining herself disappearing behind orange suits and white sheets.

 _“WAIT -- !_ ” Kazuichi cried, voice cracking with such a distinctive line-down-the-middle that she couldn’t help but _wheeze_ a laugh, glee stokin’ and stokin’ and firin’ up her system until her arms pumped so hard and her steps landed with such great force that she could almost feel herself taking off…!

...Her chin turned up and mouth yawned open in the wind hitting her face - _aaaaah, to feel so alive…!_

...She heard Kazuichi again, through the rush of it all.

So, so distant now, but simultaneously, so, so loud - noises stumbling and hiccuping together faint and vague as if in a memory…!

 _“CRAP! Ibuki -- look_ **_OUT…!_** ”

Ibuki tossed a look back over her shoulder - jingle…! - and afforded the source of Kazuichi’s voice a curious blink.

She barely registered the initial little knocks against her skin, but quickly told by the telltale plastic-y rattling that she had just run into a display of fake skeletons.

_Ah-whoops._

She was not prepared, however, to find herself crashing through them.

And subsequently finding her skull bonking - and the rest of her body, too, bonking - into a class door.

She slammed her eyes shut at the stars filling her head, gritting her teeth preparing with her arms spread wide to catch herself on the impact of the ground - a fresh _smack!_ on her back with one weird massage from the juts of the pile of skeletons she’d fallen into. Footsteps that she was _pretty sure_ were those of the boots from Kazuichi’s _bancho_ costume began approaching fast and stumbly, and in an initial effort to acknowledge his presence verbally, she began to twist and _guuuuuuuuhhhhhh…!_ through her teeth.

“ _Geez_ , Ibuki…!”

Her grimace turned its corners up…! Yup…! Definitely Kazuichi - voice still cracking!

He seized her by the forearm and she flopped on with his tugging at it to sit herself upright. She blinked at him bright, as the light o’ daze faded in favor of the simply brightness of a good adrenaline rush.

He rubbed his forehead with the heel of his free palm aggressively over high-knit brows, crouched to meet her at eye level. “What was _that_ all about…? What were you trying to give me the slip for…?!”

A giggle bounced in her throat; she sat up taller, freed her arm with a flick of her wrist and flashed him an askew peace sign. “‘Course she wasn’t tryin’a do _that_ , silly!” Her voice tinkled like those little bells - her tail seemed to be swaying all on its own, oh, my…! “Ibuki was stoked that you took her up on a quick li’l game of chase, is all…!”

Kazuichi averted and lowered his head a little; gave a quick chew to his lip. “I thought we’re not supposed to draw a whole lotta attention to ourselves…” he said, tone compressed yet trailing, wispier. “That’s why we’ve been all careful, and sticking together, and crap…”

Something swelled in Ibuki’s heart.

She began to sway side to side, head held high and humming notes in rhythm with the alternating pats of her hands in the fake bones at her sides.

“...Ooh-hoo, you say that…”

A determination sharpened into her grin. Cockiness that she was totally cool just letting herself have.

_Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter…!_

“But as a matter of fact!” A nod to herself. “If there is one day that we should be able to do whatever we want out and about, it’s Halloween, my good homeslice!”

“ -- I mean, I guess I kinda get it, but man, even _I_ didn’t think my costume was that convincing…”

“Mm! No, it’s not just that!” Ibuki blinked wide and shook her head; as she ceased swaying, the rattling of bones lightened to a stilling. “Didn’t Sonia tell you why she thought all of us getting _on the scene like Halloween machines_ today would be a good idea, too?”

“I-I mean…” He scratched the back of his head. “ -- She did seem so infectiously happy that we’d be getting to do something off the island this year, but you know! She’s really into things like Halloween anyway, isn’t she…?”

A big nod; Ibuki flashed him a fresh beam. “So she knows a lot about it! Like -- how originally, in the old European folktales, Halloween is the day that the world of spirits and the world of humans intersect…”

...She began to trail out softly, wind-humming-like, in spite of herself; her eyes half-lidded as she rested in the _viiiiiiibe_ of some _good mysterious, spooky storytelling._

...Nodded, once again.

“People light lights and wear _scaaaaaary costumes…_ ” She lifted her hands in front of herself; spidered both sets of fingers in the air. “...so they can spook all the evil spirits who’ve come to walk among us off…!”

...She felt some of the vibe cooling in her chest, a little bit. The corner of her mouth quirked. Her eyebrows twitched to faintly furrow.

...She took that quirking further - let the muscles in her face lift further till they lifted the lower lids of her eyes; she worked out a nice high round of giggling through her teeth.

“ -- How much does Kazuichi wanna bet that some of the _spooky spirits_ have gotten wise, huh? Betcha for years and years, now, they’ve been putting on costumes and showing up… not to scare people to death or haunt the living or anything like that, anymore, but ‘cause they wanna join in on the festivities, too…!”

The cooled space felt hollow, and she felt something echo in it when it pulsed.

She popped her eyes open and found her vision extra-colorful and shiny again.

And Kazuichi, too, smiling, via a slant to pursed lips, eyes downcast.

Before he lifted ‘em back on up to her face.

Air shook out of him in a soft laugh.

“Guess when you say it like that, yeah…!” he said, quiet along a lifted current. “Guess us being out and about tonight does make some kind of sense…”

* * *

Kazuichi was in a good mood, what may have been anywhere from twenty minutes to an hour later - _hee_ if Ibuki could tell, or if she’d been particularly paying attention to more than running, and sightseeing, and snacking, and party music, and encouraging her buddy to _re-laaaaaax! You know Ibuki will hear any trouble coming from miles away if she gotta! The night is young, and so are we!_

However, she supposed that there was also a good sort of point of compromise, here. The two of ‘em could hitch a ride on the back of the parade float that Kazuichi’d swooped in to fix a wheel on along with a handful of other anonymous first-come-first-serve volunteers ( _aaaah_ , who knew if any of _them_ could also be some kind of ghost in disguise! Maybe a serial killer, or an actual ghost! Ibuki would _haaaaave_ to write a song about the girl in the spider-lady outfit…!), and he could be settled that surely a ride-along through town gave ‘em ample opportunity to scout out and reunite with their friends (hopefully her keepin' a firm hold of his hand so _neither_ of them could get away helped, too!), and she could enjoy immersion in an environment of noise and life and music and _gloriously macabre aesthetic_ that she hadn’t gotten this kind of a taste of in _yeeeeaaaaaars… Like taking a long, hot bath after the longest camping trip ever, except that the bath is fire and electricity…!_

And both of ‘em, amidst dancing skeletons and purple and orange confetti in the air and so many people laughing, could go back to the boat once this festival wrapped up knowing they’d gotten to be present again in their one day back in the human world, cozy too in the knowledge that the only ones who’d known that they were playful spirits in disguise, too, were only fellow playful spirits in disguise.

Good times and good secrets to be shared by all…!


End file.
